Lightning could ignite new blazes

Video - Firefighters rescued by helicopter after becoming trapped in wildfires"/>

Californians braced Sunday for a troubling shift in the weather that was expected to bring unpredictable winds, more sizzling temperatures and potential lightning strikes that could ignite new wildfires across an already ravaged state.

Firefighters have been battling more than 600 blazes – sparked by a staggering 12,000 lightning strikes – for a week. About 1.1 million acres of land has been torched. Most of the damage was caused by three clusters of fire “complexes” that were ripping through 1,175 square miles of forest and rural areas in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The fires have burned about 1,000 homes and other structures, forced tens of thousands to flee, left five people dead, blanketed communities with a pall of dangerous smoke and haze and left residents on edge.

“Tuesday night when I went to bed I had a beautiful home on a beautiful ranch,” said Hank Hanson, 81, of Vacaville. “By Wednesday night, I have nothing but a bunch of ashes.”

The National Weather Service issued a “red flag” warning through Monday afternoon for the San Francisco Bay area and the central coast, meaning extreme fire conditions including high temperatures, low humidity and wind gusts up to 65 mph, “may result in dangerous and unpredictable fire behavior.”

There was the potential for scattered “dry” thunderstorms over much of Northern California, the weather service said, and lightning could spark new blazes.

Chief Mark Brunton, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said the winds can blow a fire in any direction, increasing the peril. “There’s a lot of potential for things to really go crazy out there,” he said.

Two blazes have ballooned into the second and third largest in the state’s history, according to Cal Fire. Among the casualties of the fires: ancient redwood trees at California’s oldest state park, Big Basin Redwoods, and the park’s headquarters and campgrounds.

Fire crews made small progress over the weekend, and some evacuation orders had been lifted. But the ominous weather reports had officials warning residents new evacuation orders could be coming.

Fires rage:About 600 wildfires have burned a million acres in California in a week.

“There’s not a feeling of pure optimism, but a feeling of resolve, a feeling of we have resources backing us up,” Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday announced that the White House had granted the state’s request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration – that’s despite President Donald Trump publicly chiding California over the wildfires last week.

About 14,000 firefighters are manning the lines, according to Cal Fire. Fire crews have been working around the clock and resources are drained.

Only 1,400 firefighters were battling a blaze in California’s wine country, north of the San Francisco Bay. By comparison, the state had 5,000 firefighters assigned to the Mendocino Complex in 2018, which still holds the record as the largest fire in state history.

Lightning danger: This is how a lightning storm can start a wildfire

“All of our resources remain stretched to capacity that we have not seen in recent history,” said Shana Jones, the chief for CalFire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit.

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